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THE HOUSE MARKS IN (English summary of:
Bumerker i Norge – en oversikt) By Hans Cappelen, 2002 1 Introduction Our thousands and thousands of house marks represent a rich cultural treasure
and they have been with us for more than a thousand years. Many look like the runes (our eldest script)
others are international and wide spread symbols like the pentagram
and the Venus sign. The house
marks were used in connection with farming and hunting, craft and trade,
religion and magic. Some are very simple and others are elaborate
and complicated. I shall here give a brief survey. My
main sources are three books: (1) Norwegian medieval seals (Norske Sigiller), (2)
house marks from the district Sunnmoere (Bumerke frå Sunnmøre),
and (3) merchants’ marks of
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What the house marks are Let us start with a short and functional definition: House marks are distinguishing signs consisting of simple lines without
colours. This definition includes even modern signs and marks - as the logos - when they are looking and used like
the old marks. Peasants and farmers used house marks.
Also merchants, craftsmen, workers in mines, priests and civil
servants used them. We have some
from the nobility but very few from medieval kings and emperors (e.g.
Charlemagne). Some cities had house marks and there were churches
and hospitals using them. Today we find most of the old house marks in seals on documents. Some are scratched on building bricks, sculptured
on tombstones, carved on pieces of furniture etc. German writers on house marks have defined personal marks on movables (German:
Hausmarke)
to be different from property marks on real estate (German: Hofmarke). I see little reason for that, because both categories
are distinguishing signs for persons and the marks look exactly the
same. In English language there
is the more comprehensive concept of hallmark
including both house marks and other marks for the production
and sale of goods.
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The use as distinguishing sign House marks are for distinguishing and symbolizing persons - physical or
legal persons as authorities, corporations and other institutions. The use of a house mark tells us that a certain
person has been here; signing with a seal or as the owner of goods,
weapons, tools, trees, timber, house, cattle etc. From all over the world we know that animals
and birds have been stamped with owners’ marks,
and those marks can be house marks made by simple lines. The house mark might be a sign for the producer, as the marks from craftsmen,
goldsmiths and stonemasons. Other
house marks are merchants’ trademarks or the authorities’ quality control
signs. We have rules for the use of owner’s marks in European laws as far back as 4-500 A.D. The later statute laws order shield makers, goldsmiths and other craftsmen to stamp their products with producer’s marks, marks of origin, control signs or other marks.
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Variants and owners When we look at groups of house marks, we will see that there are some basic forms and that they have developed into lots of variants. By adding or omitting small lines, people could vary the marks almost infinitely. They could also vary by reversing or changing the mark to a vertical, horizontal or inclined position. When house marks from different persons are identical or look alike, that
might be due to mere coincidence or lack of fantasy. Of course, similar marks might be due to reason:
the owner has wanted his mark to be like another mark. We can see that certain house marks are used
by a family or by different owners of a certain farm. It can be the same mark or the lines varying
a little through the generations. A problem for us today is that we have fathers and sons, brothers and succeeding
owners using completely different house marks. So we cannot establish any firm principles for
the transition of house marks. The
owners of similar house marks can be related or they can have no connections
at all.
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Some basic forms and other signs A house mark has one or more straight lines, curved lines or dots. Lines and dots are easy to carve with a knife or to draw by hand for a person not used to writing. A great number of house marks is based on the runes of the “futhark” alphabet.
The mark can be one rune for the first letter of the owner’s
first name. It can be two combined runes; the other rune standing for
the second letter in the first name or for the initial of the father’s
first name. Such marks are initials
and monograms. Other house marks
look exactly like runes but today we can’t find any traceable connection
between the rune and the owner.
House marks can consist of regular letters
and of Roman or Arabic numerals. Not all letters are an initial or monogram that
we can identify, and the meaning of a numeral in a house mark is hard
to find. Below you will find some seals from
Norwegian farmers in the
Some house marks are geometrical shapes
with or without additional lines, as the circle, the triangle and the
square. Other house marks are
stylised things from the real world, as the
silhouette lines of an axe, a bow, a sword, an anchor, a horseshoe,
a branch and a crescent (half-moon).
Coats of arms are quite different from house marks. The arms consist of coloured fields and not lines. But there are combinations of arms and house marks. The lines in a house mark can be made broad and have colours, or the lines can be transformed in other ways to heraldic charges. Regular house marks are very often placed inside a framework like a shield but that is not making them heraldic arms. The shield is for decoration or to show that the house mark is a distinguishing sign with the same function as a coat of arms. A very popular basic form for house marks is the cross in all variations of this symbol. Many of the other basic forms have an element
of the cross when they have a small horizontal line. A triangle with
a little cross on top has been called the
Virgin. Old international symbols
as the swastika, pentagram and hexagram are well known in house marks
from Norwegian peasants and merchants.
(The pentagram is claimed to be magical and used on objects or
buildings for protection against evil.)
In many seals we can see the traditional monograms of Christ or Virgin
Mary. Other religious symbols
in house marks are the Greek letters alpha and omega (“the beginning
and the end”). We even find astrological and astronomical signs
in house marks; especially signs for Mars and Venus were popular motifs.
Mars is a circle with an arrowhead on top and Venus is a circle with
a cross at the bottom point. Many house marks have variants of “the knot”. It consists of three or four
loops made by curves, triangles or squares. The knot of squares is sometimes
called “St Hans’ cross” or the cross of
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More basic forms and their names Many basic forms have their own names, but not all books on house marks
use the same names. Although
the common classification of forms and names can be criticized, it has
some advantage when working with house marks.
The names are practical but some basic forms can just as well
be called parts of other forms, and some forms can be mere variants
of others. The staffEven the single, vertical line is a motif in house marks, being called the staff. But staffs are as usual only one of several elements in a house mark. The staff can be repeated several times and it can point in all possible directions. The staff of MercuryWhat we see is like the numeral 4
and this figure is in a multitude of house marks from all over
The cross of St. AndrewWe may call this the X-form because the two crossed
lines in X represent the
basic form. “The cross of St.
Andrew” is the usual name. There
are many variants of this cross and it may have one or more lines added
to the basic X. The
additional lines can make it look like a star, especially when it is a small, additional figure to
other figures. The cross with
three or more lines crossing, have been called double
cross.
The hourglass and the triangle
Two geometrical triangles with points touching each other are called the
“hour glass”. The form looks like a stylised hourglass and we know it
today from computer graphics. In
old house marks it might symbolize time or death, but probably it often
had no other meaning than being nice to look at and easy to carve. The
hourglass is also the form of a rune used for the letter D. A variation
is with one horizontal line omitted and called the
half hourglass. There are lots of triangle variants in house
marks, as in the knot mentioned above.
The arrow and the arrowhead
Today we all know the arrows used on traffic signs. The simple drawing
of an arrow, like the three conjoined lines, has been a popular motif
for thousands of years. The basic
arrow form is like the rune for the letter T and it is also used as
symbol for the Norse god Tor. The
arrowhead can be used as a variant and we can see arrows with one arrowhead
on top and one arrowhead upside down at the bottom of the staff.
An arrow in a house mark can point in any direction. Some authors
use the name spear, especially
if the straight middle stroke is quite long.
The hookThis form is a staff with a little sloping line to one side. When the little line is from the top and pointing
downwards to the right, it has the same form as the rune for L. Two such small lines make the hook as the rune
for A, and when the two lines point upwards the hook is the rune for
F. Staffs with one little, sloping line has been called a half hook by authors using “hook” as the
name of a staff with one sloping line downwards from the top and another
little line at the bottom on the other side and pointing upwards. When the staff has
that little line on each end, it has also been called a kettle hook (for hanging kettles over the
fire). Other authors use the
name counter hook. Also the form of a Z has been called a kettle hook.
The fork and the tridentThere are many names and forms for the Y-like
figure. In heraldry it is called
the shake fork. Turned upside down it looks like
an old fashioned fork with two dents only.
When a little line is added between the two sloping lines, it
may look like a fishing spear or the trident
in the hands of The chevron and the angleChevron is a name from heraldry and it means a figure
like a V turned upside
down. The angle
can be a V or a right angle
and it can even look like an L.
There are house marks having several chevrons or angles forming M, W
or lines of zigzag. The bow or crescent
This form is a semi-circular line and can have the names bow, curve and crescent. It can have
a dot near the middle point and there are house marks with two bows
and two dots in various positions. The
combined bow and dot may look like the old international crescent and
star symbol. A few house marks even have a crescent and a star-like
cross, made by several lines. The banner and the pennantWe may use these names on a staff with a little square or triangle to the
side of the top. They might be
called variants of the staff of Mercury or of a stylised battleaxe. But because there are so many house marks with
banner or pennant it can be practical to have separate names for these
forms. The banner or pendant
can point to the right or the left, there can be a banner or pendant
to each side (double banner/pendant), they can be at the
middle point or at the bottom instead of the top etc.
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More research Much research remains to be done with the house marks. Examples might be social and geographical trends
in the use of house marks, the development in time and space of basic
forms and variants, possible designs invented by engravers and other
craftsmen, the varying purposes, use and functions, house marks in law
and literature, pre historic pictures with possible house marks etc
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Literature See: BUMERKER I NORGE – EN OVERSIKT http://www.cappelen-krefting.no/hans/bumerker/bumerker-del05.htm |
